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Closing and origination costs have jumped almost nine percent from last year, according to a Bankrate survey. New York and Texas lead the way with the highest closing costs respectively. An article on Fox Business, written by Polyana da Costa takes the angle that the rising costs are a result of new regulations imposed on the mortgage industry. Third-party fees, including the appraisal, have increased by almost eight percent, da Costa said.

Appraisers are still feeling the swift kick from the mortgage industry while other vendors have seen some relief. New regulations, bad business relationships and the inability to make as much money as they used to have become big blockers in the appraisal business. How can we possibly turn this ship around?

It seems it is getting easier for homeowners to walk away from their homes when they find themselves upside down on their mortgage loan. That is, they owe a lot more than the home is now worth thanks to recently decreased market values. Even those who can afford their payments are using this as an excuse to walk away from a "bad investment." There is even a company that will help homeowners step-by-step to walk away from their home.

Reverse mortgage loan agents are being prosecuted for mortgage fraud which included inflating the appraisals of the properties involved. One such incident involved raising the value of a Florida condo from $31,000 to $275,000 on a reverse mortgage and then not even paying off the existing mortgage, now a senior citizen is left in foreclosure. Altogether, Louis Gendason, John Incadela, Marcos Echevarria of 1st Continental, and Kimberly Mackey, a title agent in Pittsburgh,...

Almost half of the economic experts and Bankrate analysts are predicting that rates will remain unchanged over the next week. Eighteen percent think rates will go up and 35 percent thing they will fall. A day can change everything. What do you think?

At first blush most financially savvy individuals might think that putting a lower limit on government-backed mortgage loans would significantly hurt an already crippled housing market but that may not be true. A new report reveals that the lower limits would only affect about five percent of those seeking a new home purchase loan -- even if they cut the loan limit in half.

Final rules setting the minimum state licensing standards for compliance with the Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act of 2008 have been published by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD said more than 5,000 comments on the proposal led to the final rule.

The National Association of Realtors released data on existing home sales which revealed a decline of almost four percent for the month of May. While it is only 3.8 percent less than April 2011, it is down over 15 percent from last year at this time. The disparity most likely caused by last year's rush to qualify for the home buyer tax credit put in place by the Obama administration.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency appears to have had a significant impact on reducing losses for Fannie and Freddie in 2010, according to the latest annual report to Congress. The FHFA cited stricter underwriting standards and new pricing structures for decreasing losses from $93.6 billion to $28 billion in 2010.

The Federal Reserve Board is seeking comments about a proposal to require the behemoth U.S. bank holding companies that have total consolidated assets of $50 billion or more to submit an annual capital plan for review. It appears they want to keep a closer eye on what is going on with those “too large to fail” institutions.
Click here to read the June 10 press release that outlines the...